BUREAU OF LAND USE 

 THOMAS STORROW, CHIEF 



The protection of agricultural land and the wise use of our public land 

 resources for farming and gardening are the main objectives of the Bureau of 

 Land Use. The past year has been a productive one for the Bureau of Land Use, 

 as over 100 farms are protected state-wide through the APR Program, positive 

 steps have been taken to ensure continued agricultural use of our state lands, 

 and a record number of gardeners are involved in our community gardening effort. 



Outlined are presentations on the most important activities of the Bureau 

 of Land Use. 



Agricultural Preservation Restriction Program 



The Agricultural Preservation Restriction (APR) Program was established by 

 the Legislature in December, 1977, to protect the Commonwealth's rapidly dimi- 

 nishing farmland resources through the purchase of Agricultural Preservation 

 Restrictions, commonly known as development rights. It is a voluntary program 

 whereby farmland owners apply to the Department of Food and Agriculture to sell 

 a restriction on all or a portion of their property. After field inspections, a 

 screening and selection process, appraisals, and approval by the Agricultural 

 Lands Preservation Committee, the Commonwealth acquires these deed restrictions, 

 which run in perpetuity, and prohibit all activities that would destroy or 

 impair the land for farming. Title to the land still rests with the landowner 

 who enjoys all the traditional rights of the property ownership, such as the 

 right to privacy, the right to lease or sell the land, and of course the right 

 to farm the land. 



Since the program's inception, more than 9,825 acres have been protected 

 state-wide. There are also more than 11,853 acres currently under appraisal. 

 During the past six years the Legislature has appropriated five million dollars 

 for each of the first four years, twenty million dollars in 1983, and another 

 five million in 1984 for a total of $45 million to fund the program. The 

 Massachusetts program is the most intensive farmland preservation program of its 

 kind in the country and is being used as a model by other states considering 

 similar farmland protection techniques. 



Background 



An active farmland preservation role by the State's Department of Food and 

 Agriculture has come none-too-soon for Massachusetts, as over a million and a 

 half acres of land in farms have gone out of production in the state since World 

 War II. During the two decades between 1951 and 1971 it has been estimated that 

 between 11,000 and 12,000 acres of farmland were lost annually in the state 

 because of urban conversion. The tremendous loss of farmland in Massachusetts 

 has slowed during the past decade, but the loss of farms and farmland continues. 

 One just has to drive around the countryside to witness new houses going up in 

 fields and orchards that were recently in active agricultural production. 



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